Jay Cutler Takes the Cuffs off Bears' Playbook

Rex Grossman had the arm, but lacked in the accuracy and decision making department.  Kyle Orton had the steady play, but his lack of arm strength handicapped the Bears’ offensive coaches.

As the Jay Cutler era begins in Chicago, Bears fans and players have been walking with a new swagger.  Nobody, however, should be happier than offensive coordinator Ron Turner.

Turner finally has a guy in Cutler who compares to Kurt Kittner, Turner’s quarterback at the University of Illinois in 2001—his most successful season coaching in college.

Kittner, in college, was a guy who allowed Ron Turner to open up his playbook with his ability to throw the ball down the field.   Wide-outs Brandon Lloyd, Aaron Moorehead, and Walter Young helped Kittner spread the field, but the Bears also have speed at they’re specialty positions which has not been able to be utilized with the inefficiencies at the quarterback position.

Speedster Devin Hester has taken flack for not being able to catch the deep ball, but has anyone really been able to get the ball to him in rhythm down the field?  Tight end Greg Olsen has shown glimpses of what the Bears had envisioned from him, but still hasn’t come into his own as a dominant pass catching threat.

What the addition of Cutler really means is that the Bears will now be able to consistently throw the 20 to 30-yard passes.  They will no longer have to rely on screen and dump passes.

Not only does this allow the Bears to pick up more yards in a shorter amount of time, but it makes the defense open up and allows Matt Forte to really use his best asset: his vision.

Also look for wide receiver Johnny Knox to get a look at some point during the season, although he’ll more than likely start out on the practice squad.  His speed has fans talking highly about the fifth-rounder out of Abilene Christian, but his talent is raw right now.  However, his speed alone has got to have coaches thinking about him and Hester being on the field together.

I don’t see the Bears completely changing their offense with the addition of just one player—albeit it a pro-bowl caliber one—but Ron Turner now has a new weapon that will allow him to use his running game much more efficiently than in years past.

Look for the Bears to open up the field much more often in the past, and consistently throw the ball in the 20 to 30-yard range.  This will allow an offense, which was ranked 26th in total yards at the end of the last season, to become much more versatile than the run-first, run-always offense they have been accustomed to in the past.